Current Affairs Quiz - April 2022

Notes:
According to the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed between Meghalaya and Assam, 18.33 square kilometer will be with Meghalaya while 18.46 sq km will be with Assam.
This is out of the 36.79 sq km in respect to the 6 out of 12 areas of differences claimed by the Government of Meghalaya in 2011.

Notes:
US President Joe Biden signed the “Emmett Till Anti-lynching Act” into law, as he made lynching a federal hate crime.
As many as 4,743 persons were lynched between 1882 and 1968, with 3,446 of them being Black. This act was named after the murder of a 14-year-old Black boy from Chicago by a group of White men in Mississippi in 1955 as he was alleged to have whistled at a White woman.

Notes:
The venture capital fund (VCF) scheme was implemented by the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment to help aspiring entrepreneurs belonging to SCs and OBCs new businesses. As the performance of the scheme is not satisfactory, the Ministry is set to launch a “mentorship” programme.
Named the ‘Ambedkar Young Entrepreneur-Mentor’ (AYE-Mentor) programme, the IFCI Venture, which is the VCF manager, will empanel businessmen or heads of companies or veterans of banking and financial institutions, as ‘mentors’.

Notes:
The Finance Ministry announced that the Union government is looking to raise Rs 8.45 lakh crore through borrowings in the first half of 2022-23.
The borrowing is set to be made to fund the revenue gap for reviving the economy. Out of the market borrowing of Rs 14.31 lakh crore estimated for the next financial year, Rs 8.45 lakh crore is planned to be borrowed in the first half or April-September period.

Notes:
The Gujarat government’s Bill which seeks to regulate stray cattle in urban areas of the state was passed by majority in the Assembly.
The Gujarat Cattle Control (Keeping and Moving) in Urban Areas Bill, 2022 mentions the threat stray cattle pose to those riding two-wheelers. The new Bill, when it becomes a law, will be applicable in Gujarat’s eight major cities – Ahmedabad, Vadodara, Surat, Rajkot, Gandhinagar, Jamnagar, Bhavnagar and Junagadh.

Notes:
NASA and SpaceX are set to launch astronauts to the International Space Station as part of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program.
NASA’s SpaceX Crew-4 is the fourth crew rotation mission that will carry an international crew of four astronauts on a science expedition. The mission will fly a new Crew Dragon spacecraft and will launch on a Falcon 9 booster. The spacecraft has been named “Freedom” by the Crew-4 astronauts.

Notes:
India recently celebrated the 59th National Maritime Day which falls on April 5 every year. This year’s theme is ‘Sustainable Shipping beyond Covid-19’.
The first anniversary of the day was held in 1964 to raise awareness about international trade and economy.  An award ceremony is held to honour those who made important contributions to the Indian maritime industry.

Notes:
Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal announced that India’s merchandise exports rose to a record high of USD 418 billion in the 2021-22 fiscal.
The rise is due to the higher shipments of petroleum products, engineering goods, gems and jewellery and chemicals. India’s goods trade (exports and imports) crossed USD 1 trillion during 2021-22. India’s imports also touched an all-time high of USD 610 billion.

Notes:
Punjab National Bank has recently made the Positive Pay System (PPS) compulsory for cheque payments worth Rs 10 lakh and above.
Under the Positive Pay System (PPS) developed by the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), a customer issuing the high-value cheque has to reconfirm some essential details before clearing. It aims to protect the customers from security threats

Notes:
The World Bank released the April 2022 update ‘Braving the Storms: East Asia and Pacific Economic Update’.
As per the report, there are three risks for the region:  financial tightening in the U.S., structural slowdown in China, and the war in Ukraine. The April 2022 issue of the report suggests bold reforms to avert the risks and grasp the opportunities.